Artist · chart history
Triumph
Band Mississauga Canada Formed 1975 Canadian rock band
Triumph formed in 1975 in Mississauga, Canada. Triumph has 132 chart appearances on 63 radio countdowns from 23 stations on RockLists, spanning 1982–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Lay it on the Line”, which appears on 47 lists with a best position of #57. The station that charted Triumph most often is KISW (Seattle-Tacoma, WA), with 23 appearances.
Triumph came roaring out of Mississauga in 1975, a power trio that built its name the hard way, one loud night at a time. Rik Emmett played guitar and sang, Gil Moore pounded the drums and sang too, and Mike Levine held down bass and keyboards, and that three-man lineup cut the band's first nine studio albums. Early on it was "Rock & Roll Machine" and "24 Hours A Day" that got people talking.
Just a Game in 1979 brought "Lay It on the Line" and "Hold On", big-hearted hard rock with Emmett's flashy fretwork and a chorus you could hear from the cheap seats, and Progressions of Power followed in 1980 with "I Live for the Weekend". Allied Forces in 1981 is the one that gives the band its swagger, with "Magic Power" and "Fight the Good Fight" pumping their fists, and Never Surrender kept the fire stoked in 1983 with "A World of Fantasy". The plaques piled up, 18 gold and nine platinum across Canada and the US, and Juno nominations for Group of the Year came in 1979 and again in 1985, 1986 and 1987.
Emmett left in 1988 to go solo, Phil X stepped in for Edge of Excess, and the band went on indefinite hiatus in 1993. The classic trio regrouped in 2008 for Sweden Rock Festival and Rocklahoma, the same year the Canadian Music Hall of Fame took them in, then played Edmonton during the 2025 Stanley Cup Final and hit the road for a full tour in April 2026.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Triumph on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lay it on the Line | 47 | #57 | – | – | |
| 2 | Magic Power | 42 | #149 | – | – | |
| 3 | Fight the Good Fight | 26 | #89 | – | – | |
| 4 | Hold On | 6 | #142 | – | – | |
| 5 | I Live for the Weekend | 1 | #342 | – | – | |
| 6 | Somebody Out There | 2 | #739 | – | – | |
| 7 | A World of Fantasy | 5 | #848 | – | – | |
| 8 | Never Surrender | 1 | #700 | – | – | |
| 9 | Allied Forces | 1 | #910 | – | – | |
| 10 | Just A Game | 1 | #493 | – | – |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.




Comments
Log in or create a free account to join the conversation about Triumph.
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts.